Mark Lipton was in NYC briefly and Brad Kane put together a casual jeebus at Il Corso. Cliff Rosenberg and Jay Miller also joined; a very fun evening with really good food, certainly an interesting lineup of wines (with much debate), and great company.
2001 Franck Peillot Roussette du Bugey Cuvée Buster Altesse de Montagnieu
Faintly oxidative with some nutty and candle wax elements on top of bright fruit and florality, but it still retains a sense of real freshness and precision in the mouth, and it's lovely to drink.
2009 Schloss Lieser Riesling Spätlese trocken
Lovely aromatics; bright floral and sponti-yeast scents but it's rather dull on the palate, showing fresh, pale complexioned fruit and intense stony minerality but at the same time rather one-note without much depth or length, and some residual sugar would certainly balance this out better.
2007 François Chidaine Vouvray Sec Clos Baudoin
Wonderful; fresh Chenin fruit, touches of florality and wooliness combining seamlessly in a package that conveys flavour with a sense of understatement and lightness. Very polished and elegant with a glossy texture, bright acids and lovely balance.
1998 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard
Corked.
1999 Éric Texier Hermitage
Damn this is good. Best performance I've had from any bottle of this yet. Vividly meaty, smoky, floral and deep fruited; there's fantastic depth and balance here and a lightness of touch that makes it all too easy to drink.
1999 Auguste Clape Cornas
I can't believe it's not Bordeaux! Not in a bad way or anything, but this has none of the wild meatiness and rusticity I expect from Cornas. It's quite powerful, rugged and tannic, but in a much more formal and structured way than any Northern Rhone, tasting more like a young, tannic left-banker with dark fruited flavours augmented by savoury graphite and earthy elements and a spine of tannin beneath.
1993 Edmunds St. John California Syrah
Starts out with a vivid, powerful scent of olive tapenade. With time it evolves and evolves; first evoking bright red fruited and berried flavours, then more herbal, forestal and minty elements - compelling, unique wine that's hard to pin down as either a Northern Rhone or a Californian Syrah, but regardless it's fantastic.
1974 Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Proprietor's Reserve
Still pretty youthful, with a core of fresh red and dark fruited flavours framed by developed earthy, herbal and cedary elements. At peak now (though starting to fall away with a couple of hours of air); tannins resolved but the fruit still kept fresh and vibrant by the acids; beautifully balanced and offering lots of pleasure.
2010 Navarro Vineyards Cluster Select Late Harvest Muscat Blanc
20.9% residual sugar (yes, 20.9%!) and while it smells very pleasant with bright floral and tropical fruited scents, it's very cloying and dense without the acidity to balance the incredible sweetness. Hard to go through more than a few sips of this.
Very fun evening, good to see some old friends again and nice to catch up with Mark after quite some time. Thanks all!